, 1887-08-26
FoNDNEss Foa sregEr BOYS.
How 1t Came Near Getting "A Humanely
Inclined Clergyman into Trouble.

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How 1t Came Near Getting a HumaneIy
Inclined Clergyman into Trouble.
There recently TRANSFERRED in Boston Il
somewhat singular affair, which, so far
as the Listener knows-and he does not
propose to institute a minute inquiry to
determine whether or not the story has
seen print in any form-is as yet IN
known to the general public. 1t is a
history of the conflict of a humane clergy
man benevolent fondness for street bows
with a prim and proper sections notions
of order n neatness about a church; and
its outcome stirred the Listeners heart in
the same way, though of course not in
the same measure, that the triumph of
the small boys over Gen. Cages minions
in Revolutionary days stirred it long ago.
There is n of our churches-it won't
do, for reasons of state, to tell which
church it is-that has an entrywav or
vestibule, with a flight of stone steps,
which is found very convenient by small
street urchins, newspaper boys and the
like, to rest in, to gossip in, to fall asleep in
sometimes, and, horrible to relate! to
crack peanuts in. The litter of shells left
by this juvenile congregation was the &C.
casion of terror and disgust to the hon
ored sexton of the church, a person of
rather set notions, who proceeded to take
the necessary steps to clear the vestibule
of the nuisance, driving the boys away
and warning them with dire threats never
to come again.
1t happened, however, to the sexton's
great establishment, that the pastor of
the church showed a disposition to side
with the boys. He liked to find the little
fellows there; he liked to think of the
church over which he ministered provid-
ing a safe harbor, with nothing in it of
evil influence or suggestion, for these
human waits. Somehow the old church
seemed to be, in his mind, fulfilling the
purpose for which it was designed when
it sheltered from the wind the street boys
with its old walls in the winter, or cooled
and rested their hot and weary bodies
with its dark stones in the summer, The
minister talked to them sometimes, and
felt that their resorting there gave him a
sort of friendly hold upon them. ;.
So he protested with the sexton.
Couldn't you come around once in a
while after the boys have been there and
sweep the steps OFF, the pastor ventured
to ask.
Sweep the steps for the benefit of those
young hoodlumsl The sexton managed
to restrain his emotions, but with diff
Guilty. No; he thought it would be quite
impossible for him to keep the steps clear
of the rubbish that those boys left there.
1t was too much to ask, and, as the mat
ter was, the condition of the steps was
frequently a scandal to the church. He
proposed that a railing or some other
means be provided that would effectually
shut out the interlopers.
1t was the minister's turn to be stub
born. He intimaUed that the boys should
have a chance to come there as long as he
remained pastor of the church. He as
serted his authority. The sexton ap-
pealed from the decision of the pastor to
the governing committee of the church.
There the matter was argued; and in
spite of thep pastors appeal in the boys
behalf, and his insistence that their habit
of resorting to the church steps might
give him an opportunity to do much
good, the committee thought more of
the church steps than they did of the
boys, and decided the dispute in the sex
toms favor, ~instructing him to drive the
boys away and take the necessary steps
TO keep them away.
Then there was a ministerial crisis
right away. The pastor appealed the
matter to the church. A meeting was
held, and the question considered in all
its bearings. The pastor pleaded the
case almost with tears in his eyes, and
certainly with humanity in his heart.
He carried the day, and was tr%iumphantly
sustained by the church.
And now, it is said, you may find
plenty of boys, almost any day, linger-
ing around the steps of the church rest
ing and gossiping, but few peanut shells.
AS the minister's particular friends, they
do not betray his confidence in them
Boston Transcript Listener"